


Doing Right

by StolenVampires



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Flower Crowns, Its Jesse's Fam, M/M, Non-Canonical Character Death, OC death, Sad McCree, implied mchanzo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 00:31:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7663150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StolenVampires/pseuds/StolenVampires
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hanzo discovers McCree making a flower crown by himself outside the base. Curious, he ends up discovering why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doing Right

**Author's Note:**

> No beta. I should probs get one.

"You know." He said, voice softer than it's usual timber. It held an air of gentleness, of a long past memory that was recalled with a fondness from a time before he'd been here. Before he'd been marked as something unfit for everyday society.  
"My momma used to tell me that so long as I could make someone smile, I'd be doing alright."  
Metal and organic fingers pulled at the small pile of wildflowers they had gathered, delicately tying them together, lacing them into a ribbon of blooms that smelled almost sweet. A flower garland, perhaps the most odd thing Hanzo had seen McCree busy himself with in passing, he couldn't help but ask. It wasn't just out of place, it seemed almost out of character for the gruff American to handle the tiny blooms with such finesse and delicate work.

It was even stranger in how earlier, midway of watching him in silence, not yet asking what or why McCree was doing as he was, the man had been asked to join the cowboy to walk and gather more.

He had. 

There was no conversation, no questions asked. Just a sort of calm between them as the duo walked along the seaside glen not far from the base, picking the yellow, white and violet blossoms, the occasional pink and red scattered within like hidden gems. Back to where McCree had been sitting, Hanzo now sitting next to him; Ever silent as he kept observing while McCree picked up where he left off, the garland growing a bit longer.

"So when my lil sis tried to make herself a flower crown on the farm and came crying to me one day? I didn't know a darn thing. I didn't know how to tell her that she picked weeds. That I didn't know nothing about flowers. How to make 'em hold. How to weave 'em and make 'em into something 'pruty she could wear. She was jus' five. I was a brat and right ass. Told her to scat and go cry at our mamma." He let out a chuckle, holding up the garland. It was thicker now, not much longer. The colors were random and made no sense of form or flow. It was a mess. 

"So out came my ma right? Coulda killed me with that look she gave when she started hollerin at me. 'Jesse McCree you get off that horse and get yousself down here this minute boy!'" He laughed, but Hanzo could see it in his face, in then creases of his eyes. It was still a fond memory. A sad memory he clung to. Hanzo said nothing, letting the cowboy direct the conversation as one sided as it was.

"So I went back. Well, more the ol mare Honeysuckle did, knowing that my ma yellin meant to get in the stables. But my ma yeah? She comes storming over and I'm expecting her to yell and maybe hit me a bit for being a right ass to my sister. But you know what she did?" Hanzo didn't ask.  
"She looks me dead in the eye and tells me that I'm gonna sit my phanny on down and teach my sis how to make a flower crown. Now, I didn't know how or where wildflowers even grew on the farm. Never paid 'em no mind. I told her it was dumb and she jabs me in the chest with her finger and said that if I at least wanna do one thing right, it's gonna be making a flower crown for 'Lil Hazel. Because come next summer, I'll be 16, and either I'll be working on the farm and going to school, or I'll be gone. Running with a gang and breaking her heart but my ma will be damned if the last summer with my sister is gonna be one where I'm nothing more than a right bastard to her."  
McCree, Hanzo noticed, seemed almost smaller. Like he was trying to fold in on himself. Shoulders hunched over, eyes focused on the stems of daisies and other blossoms. Withdrawn, yet he kept talking to Hanzo, and a realization dawned on the archer.  
This was perhaps the most intimate conversation the pair had ever had. McCree never talked about his life before Overwatch. Much less his time with the Deadlock gang. But never, in all the months he'd known the cowboy, had the man ever talked about his life before he'd been a wanted man.  
Never had McCree talked about himself before he'd been McCree. Before, when he'd been apparently, just another teenage kid with a younger sister who lived on a farm with his mother.

So Hanzo remained next to him, still as stone, listening, doing his best to relax and let McCree speak. 'Unload' as Genji had put it, back when Hanzo had refused to discuss things except in long single isolated sessions.

"So, that's how I spent most of my summer. I did my work on the farm, but all my spare time was with Hazel. I was bad at making crowns at first. Kept ripping up the flowers. Givin' up. Yellin' and hollarin' about how unfair it was. But every time I got to hollarin', Hazel would look up at me and ask me if it was 'cuz of her I was mad an-" His hands stopped for a second, and McCree drew in a slow breath.  
"I wasn't." His voice pitched. He had swallowed pain and sorrow then and there. Fought it back, buried it, a feeling Hanzo was all to acquainted with. 

"So I kept telling myself I couldn't get mad. I had to just get better. After a while? I did. Started to get the hang of it. By late July I was able to make a flower crown for her and boy. The look on Hazel's face when I put it on her head." The one in his hands was being finished, loops locking, long blades of grass tying it together.  
"It was the damn near prettiest thing I ever saw. She lit up like a june bug and started screamin how I was the best brother this side of the Rio Grand. Rest of the summer, my ma let me work the farm and have my free time back. Sometimes though I'd take a break and just make a crown for Hazel for when she'd get outta Sunday school or back from shoppin at the market. Leave em on the porch for her. But I wasn't smart. I spent the rest of my time with the boys who'd later introduce me to the rest of the local gang. The ones' who'd-"  
His voice cut out again and Hanzo finally spoke.  
"Deadlock." Grave, McCree just nodded his head, whispering 'yeah, yeah them'. 

"It was the last summer I ever saw Hazel." The crown was done, and it sat between McCree's legs on the grass.  
"I ran from home that fall. I never said goodbye to her. To Hazel. I left her and Ma two crowns. Ma's was made outta the red poppies that grew in her garden. She musta been right mad that I picked her flowers for it. But Hazel-" His voice was thick with emotion, and Hanzo wasn't sure what to do. Comfort his friend? Let him have more space?  
Two breaths, McCree's voice evened out again.  
"I made her's outta the damn pretties flowers I could find. Made sure they were all blues and violets. Her favorite ones. I made sure she knew it was for her. Put it outside her door and everything. I didn't want her to hate me. To be sad and think I was terrible for leavin her and ma like I was. But I was selfish. I wanted to get off the farm. Be my own man. I was so stupid. Gullible."  
Another pause, inhale through the noise, a sniffle.

Hanzo leaned away, letting McCree have his space.

"Hazel passed away the following spring. Rattlesnake bite out on the farm. Ma didn't have anyone else out on the ranch to keep an eye on her and by the time they found her-"  
Hanzo knew the emotion on McCree's face. He felt the cold weight of it each time he looked at Genji.  
Guilt.

"I didn't know until they took me in at booking. Reyes told me that my Ma would be heartbroken to lose her only kid to prison and when I asked?" MCCree shook his head.  
"That's when I decided to join. I messed it up. I messed everything up and all I could think was how she was gone, and I didn't even know. Ma's words kept echoing at me. So long as I could make someone smile, I'd be doing alright. I dunno if Hazel would still think of me as the best brother. Probably not but... I promised myself I'd try my hardest to make sure people had a reason to smile. That I'd do good. I'd do right by her."

A heavy sigh, McCree got up, crown left on the grass as he dusted himself off.  
"Sorry to just ramble off on ya like that partner. Just been a long day an-"  
Hanzo was listening, but he also was looking at the crown. Without saying a word, he picked it up and looked it over. It was well made, and each flower stood proud and forward, none wilted or bruised. It had been made with love.  
He went to McCree, who looked uncertain as Hanzo reached up, taking off his hat and setting it at his feet. Both men let it happen. They simply accepted their actions. The silence and touch.

The hat gone, it was replaced by the crown McCree had made and Hanzo spoke before he considered his words.  
"I think...she would have preferred to see your crowns put to use, rather than forgotten."  
A choked laugh came from McCree, his eyes softening and glistening with moisture. There was no hat to hide his tears behind, no way to hide the sudden vulnerability.

"Yeah. Yeah that sounds about right. She'd always want us to match. Princess Hazel and the brave Knight Jesse." More memories, he laughed then. Real, pure and gentle. Soft and exposed, and Hanzo smiled.  
He let the smile take over his face, let Jesse see it.  
"Purple and yellow." He said, again, sudden and softly, not filtering, not carefully picking his words and over thinking, analyzing.  
"What?" McCree stared, uncertain still, bending to pick up his hat.  
"When the flowers bloom again. My favorite colors are yellow and purple." A deep breath, a soft smile on their faces.

"Alright Partner." McCree carried his hat as they walked back to the base.  
"Alright. Next time the flowers bloom I'll make you a crown of yellow and purple. Be a real royal then eh? Prince Hanzo. Fittin I suppose." McCree was putting back his usual self. The carefree robust cowboy. Walls he had to protect himself being built back up. The masks they wore put into place so none would be the wiser. There would be one difference in the pair from their usual expressions.

Hanzo would be smiling softly the entire walk back.

**Author's Note:**

> I write too much sad Hanzo. It was McCree's turn.


End file.
